Policy Reports

Avoiding War Over Taiwan
This new policy brief, cosigned by 14 members of the Task Force on U.S.-China Policy convened by Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations and the center, argues that it is both essential and possible to avoid war in the Taiwan Strait by bolstering deterrence through enhancing the credibility of both our assurances and threats.

Waging External Struggle Through Law: China’s Evolving Legal Strategies and Pelosi’s Taiwan Visits
This policy report by Keith J. Hand highlights key developments in the People's Republic of China's legal strategies to enhance its ability to apply coercive pressure in external conflict and competition, with particular focus on PRC-Taiwan-U.S. relations.

The Party Remakes China: What to Watch for After the 20th Party Congress
This policy report on the 20th Party Congress represents the combined efforts of 21st Century China Center scholars. Within, we connect elite politics to hard data and to larger trends in policy and politics, mapping potential courses of Xi Jinping's third term. (Video)

China Forum Takeaways
We’ve compiled a list of eight key takeaways from our latest gathering of the UC San Diego Forum on U.S.-China Relations in July 2022. You can check out what the participants have to say on China’s involvement with Russia and Ukraine, its plans for Taiwan, and domestic challenges in both China and the U.S.

China’s New Direction: Challenges and Opportunities for U.S. Policy
This special report was assembled by the Task Force on U.S.-China Policy convened by the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations and the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy's 21st Century China Center. The 21 leading U.S. experts on China weigh in with insights on major changes in China and provide a series of research-informed policy recommendations on eight topics critical to U.S.-China relations going forward.

China Trading Power: Improving Environmental and Economic Efficiency of Yunnan’s Electricity Market
This study investigates China's claim that nuclear energy is necessary to meet its growing energy demands by analyzing China's energy alternatives and assessing their likelihood of contributing to total Chinese capacity. By looking at China's transformative energy policy from several perspectives, this study finds that nuclear energy is indeed a necessity for China.

Meeting the China Challenge: A New American Strategy for Technology Competition
This policy report is the culmination of over a full year’s deliberation and study by the bipartisan Working Group on Science and Technology in U.S.-China Relations. It sets forth broad policy objectives as well as specific recommendations for the new U.S. administration in four domains of science and technology: fundamental research, 5G digital communications, artificial intelligence and biotechnology.

China as a Transatlantic Challenge
This report is the outgrowth of a symposium that brought together 43 of America’s and Europe’s top China experts to identify areas of common interest and divergence across the Atlantic.

Creating Subnational Climate Institutions in China
Michael Davidson prepared this paper as part of a larger project that the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements is conducting, with support of the Harvard Global Institute, on subnational climate-change policy in China and India. The Harvard Project conducted a research workshop on this topic in July 2019, in collaboration with Tsinghua University’s Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy.

UC San Diego Forum on U.S.-China Relations: Fifteen Key Takeaways
The purpose of UC San Diego Forum on U.S.-China Relations is to convene an independent and sustaining community of thought leaders and policy experts to foster creative thinking on the U.S.-China relations. Here are fifteen key takeaways from the inaugural forum, held in La Jolla, California from Aug. 12–16, 2019.

Course Correction: Toward an Effective and Sustainable China Policy
The 21st Century China Center partners with the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations to convene a task force consisting of the country’s leading China specialists. The Task Force’s report provides a comprehensive critical review of U.S. policy toward China with recommendations for the Trump administration.

21st Century China Center Briefing on China’s 19th Party Congress
In this briefing, 21st Century China Center scholars provide a timely in-depth analysis of a series of critical questions about President Xi Jinping, the 19th Party Congress and the future of China.

U.S. Policy Towards China: Recommendations for a New Administration
The 21st Century China Center partners with the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations to convene a task force consisting of the country’s leading China specialists, many of whom have served under both political parties and every U.S. president since the Nixon administration. The Task Force’s first report provides a comprehensive critical review of U.S. policy toward China with recommendations for the Trump administration.

Understanding China’s Plans for Innovation & Technology
This report is co-authored by Tai Ming Cheung and his colleagues from the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Thomas Mahnken, Deborah Seligsohn, Kevin Pollpeter, Eric Anderson and Fan Yang. It provides an assessment of China’s state plans for civilian and defense-related science and technology, industrial and energy development and their economic and security implications for the United States.

Policymaking and Energy Supply and Demand in China’s Domestic Economy
Michael Davidson's testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission hearing on "China's Energy Plans and Practices"

Economic Policy Decision-Making Under Xi
Victor Shih's testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission hearing on “CCP Decision-Making and the 20th Party Congress”

China’s Credit Conundrum
Interviewed by Robert Brenner, Victor Shih discusses the one-off factors that enabled China’s rise as workshop of the world and its subsequent dependence on state credit as driver of growth. Contradictions between the conditions for political and financial stability, as the Xi regime superintends an unsteady slowdown.

The 19th Party Congress: A Retrospective Analysis
Following the conclusion of the Congress, we now offer a few brief observations about the immediate outcomes of the meeting.

Financial Instability in China: Possible Pathways and Their Likelihood
Victor Shih predicts the likely outcomes of financial instability in China on the MERICS China Monitor

1.3 Billion People Are in One Man’s Grip
Victor Shih and Jude Blanchette: "1.3 Billion People Are in One Man’s Grip," Foreign Policy, Oct. 16, 2017

The General Secretary’s Extended Reach: Xi Jinping Combines Economics and Politics
Barry Naughton: "The General Secretary’s Extended Reach: Xi Jinping Combines Economics and Politics," China Leadership Monitor, Sept. 11, 2017

The Regulatory Storm: A Surprising Turn in Financial Policy
Barry Naughton: "The Regulatory Storm: A Surprising Turn in Financial Policy," China Leadership Monitor, May 25, 2017

Xi Jinping’s Economic Policy in the Run-up to the 19th Party Congress: The Gift from Donald Trump
Barry Naughton: "Xi Jinping’s Economic Policy in the Run-up to the 19th Party Congress: The Gift from Donald Trump," China Leadership Monitor, Feb. 14, 2017

Trump and China: Getting to Yes with Beijing
Susan Shirk: "Trump and China: Getting to Yes with Beijing," Foreign Affairs, March/April 2017

The Rise of the Chinese National Security State Under Xi Jinping
Tai Ming Cheung: "The Rise of the Chinese National Security State Under Xi Jinping," China Policy Institute Analysis, Dec. 15, 2016

To Renminbi Or Not to Renminbi?
Victor Shih and Susan Shirk: "To Renminbi Or Not to Renminbi?," Foreign Policy, Oct. 18, 2012 (subscription required)